"For 10 minutes, I just OK'd with myself that I was going to die," Baker said. "My whole life I've been told that once you go down in a grain bin, you die."

When Baker became trapped last week in north-central Iowa, history was against his survival. From 1964 to 2008, 74 percent of reported grain entrapments resulted in fatalities, according to a report from Purdue University. In the most recent years studied, survival rates improved, but only modestly.

Miles away from Baker, Iowa Falls Fire Chief Rick Gustin marshaled his resources. The only information he had was that someone was trapped in a grain bin. He also knew his only similar experience ended with the recovery of a body.

"Statistics say you will get a recovery, not rescue," Gustin said this week.

But about five hours after being submerged in corn, Baker was pulled out alive and fell onto one of his rescuers.

"I collapsed on him and just started sobbing," Baker said. "That was when I realized I was going to survive."

Baker, a 23-year-old who lives in New Providence and farms in the area, went down into the 80,000-bushel grain bin in rural Hardin County on June 26 to remove some rotten corn, unplugging a hole so corn could pass through.

Suddenly, an air pocket sucked him down farther, and he was engulfed in about 22,000 bushels of corn. A cleanup trip turned into a struggle to live.

"In less than 10 seconds, there was 18 inches to 2 feet of corn above me," Baker said. "I had my left arm above my head, and I think you could only see an inch of my fingers."

There was no one there to help. Baker's father and a truck driver had already left, and he had no idea when they would return. Baker was alone, struggling to breathe with 450 pounds of grain pushing against his chest.

"I just thought about my next breath," Baker said. "It consumed all of my mind activity."

Baker's heart rate was also dangerously high. Doctors told Baker his heart was beating 173 times per minute, or 90 percent of his maximum, when they rescued him.

"Doctors told me if I were 10 years older, my heart would have exploded from how fast it was beating," Baker said. "If I were 10 years younger, I would have been squeezed to death from the pressure."
'Holy cow,' he says, 'I'm still breathing'

Shock lasted about five minutes, Baker said, as he tried to grasp what had happened.

Farmers routinely face the risk of an accident, but entrapment reports are somewhat rare: The Purdue study found 20 to 30 reports nationwide each year, although researchers expected that more accidents went unreported.

After spending 10 more minutes accepting his imminent death, Baker turned more optimistic.

"Then, I was kind of expecting to be dead by this time," Baker said. "But then I kind of realized, 'Holy cow, I'm still breathing. I'm alive.' "

Baker credits his survival to the ventilation mask he was wearing. The mask doesn't make oxygen, but it filters air dirty with dust and mold.

Baker said his parents bought him the $350 mask because he suffered from asthma as a child.

"It saved my life," Baker said. "Without that helmet, I would have been dead in less than three minutes."
Specialized training pays off for crew

It took about an hour before the truck driver returned and noticed Baker was missing.

"He pulled on the rope because I had a rope on, but I was so far under that I couldn't do anything," Baker said.

At 12:18 p.m., Iowa Falls emergency dispatchers received a call that someone was trapped in a bin near Owasa, said Gustin, the fire chief.

In the 25 years Gustin has volunteered for the fire department, he had been involved with just one grain entrapment call before last week. It was three years ago, and the victim died.

Afterward, Iowa Falls firefighters went through specialized grain entrapment rescue training three times. The sessions were led by Professional Rescue Innovations instructors.

Professional Rescue Innovations was started by Jerry Eslick in 1998. Instructors travel around the state to educate emergency agencies on rescues.

"We definitely have a need to keep people safe who are going into the grain bins," Eslick said. "If they do get into trouble situations, we need ways to get them out."

One of the challenges with grain entrapment rescues is getting to the victims, Eslick said. Even getting into a bin, let alone finding and removing a victim, can be difficult.

One hundred to 120 people responded for Baker's rescue, Gustin said. They were from 24 emergency agencies; some community members volunteered, too.

Roxane Warnell, emergency management coordinator for Hardin County, said she listened to emergency radio traffic on the rescue from her office, according to standard procedure.